A: Welcome to VOV’s Letter Box. This feature airs every Wednesday. This week, we were impressed and moved by letters and emails from listeners in Assam, India. They set a record by sending us an average of 4 to 5 letters per day. Miss Karobi Hazarika wrote that she was happy to listen to our program, especially the one two weeks ago in which her name was mentioned.
B: Dear VOV listeners, we want you to know how happy the people in charge of the Letter Box are to receive your feedback right after the feature is broadcast. It means a lot to us. In every Letter Box segment, we do our best to mention as many of you as possible. So if you don’t hear your name on air, it doesn’t mean we forgot you. We’ll do it sooner or later! We hope you understand and will keep loving us and our programs.
A: Miss Hazarika wants to know more about Vietnam’s automobile industry, which currently is a hot topic in Vietnam. I have to admit that as yet, Vietnam hasn’t got a real automobile industry. For Vietnamese, this is more than an economic goal. It’s a mark of successful development. The dream is to make a “real” Vietnamese car.
 |
| At one automobile factory of Vietnam (Photo: vietradeinchile.gov.vn) |
B: The government has invested a great deal of effort in building up this industry. In 2004, the Prime Minister signed a decision approving a development plan for Vietnam’s automobile industry until 2010 with a vision to 2020. However, despite great expectations, the plan turned out to be a bitter failure. Vietnam’s automobile industry remains stalled, hindered by economic and social roadblocks.
A: Vietnam’s automobile industry needs to work through a tangle of thorny issues. We can sum it up in one sentence: Vietnam’s automobile industry has a long road ahead!
B: Miss Hazarika also listened to many English programs last week. One of them was the program on November 26th on 9550 KHz at 16.10 UTC discussing the conflict in the Gaza Strip, protests threatening Egypt’s economy, tensions between Syria and Turkey, and Presidnet Obama’s visit to Myanmar. Miss Hazarika described the program in great detail. We’re very encouraged.
A: Why do I say ‘we’re very encouraged’? That you heard every detail of our program means on one hand that you liked it and on the other hand that you didn’t experience any technical problems while listening. But Toshiya Nishimura of 305 Cosmo TS, Hinode Fukui-shi Fukui-ken, Japan, said the signal on 12020 kHz was not good at all. He got much bothersome noise but promised he would ‘check this frequency again and hoped he could hear it in a better state’.
B: Dear Nishimura, what a pity for you! We’ll forward your comments to our technical department and trust in future letters, you won’t have to report similar problems.
A: We always try to send verification cards, souvenirs, stickers, and pennants as soon as possible to all listeners. So don’t worry, Toshiya. You’ll receive something soon!
B: Bhaikan Hazarika, another Indian listener from Assam, reported that he enjoyed listening to the program on November 16th on 9550 kHz at 16.11 UTC and was particularly impressed with that day’s Current Affairs segment on the ASEAN summit. Most of our listeners prefer stories about Vietnam’s land and people, its society, tourism, science and technology, and traditional music. Bhaikan Hazarika, who is head of the Universal DX Club in Rangpur, is among the few listeners who like political issues.
A: Mr. Hazarika suggested ‘more discussions and views regarding current affairs of the world.’ We’ll remember your suggestion. But you know that our Current Affairs segment deals with many domestic and international political issues. On Tuesday and Thursday, we look at hot issues around the world. The rest of the week we cover domestic matters.
Insert a song
B: You’re listening to VOV’s Letter Box, broadcast every Wednesday. The song you just heard was ……..We hope you enjoyed that tune. Now let’s check out this letter from Dewan Rafiqul Islam, President of the Friends Radio Club in Bangladesh. He and his club members want to know about mobile operators in Vietnam.
A: To date, Vietnam has seven mobile phone operators – Viettel, Mobiphone, Vinaphone, Vietnamobile, Beeline, S-Fone, and EVN Telecom, of which Mobiphone is the largest telecommunications provider. According to Vietnam’s General Statistics Office, early this year the number of new phone subscribers reached more than 832,000, up 15.4% from last year. Mobile phone subscribers accounted for 830,000, up 18.1%. The remaining 2,200 were fixed phone subscribers, down 88%.
 |
| Vietnamobile is one of mobile phone operators in Vietnam. |
B: Vietnam’s broadband Internet subscribers total 4.3 million, up 18.7%. In Vietnam, the number of mobile subscribers is not the same as the number of users, because a telecommunications customer can register up to three Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) with the same network provider. There are also garbage SIMs and SIMs with false information declarations.
A: Late last year and early this year, more than 40,000 prepaid mobile phone subscribers of Viettel, MobiFone, and VinaPhone were cancelled for declaring false personal information.
B: On every Letter Box, we try to mention as many listeners as possible, so welcome to Christer Brunstrom of Hamstad, Sweden, Masao Hosoya of Tokyo, Japan, Kanchan Chatterjee of West Bengal, India, Klaus Nindel of Dresden, Germany, Gerry Neuman of Hampsphire, England, and all you others out there. These listeners sent us letters or emails with detailed reports of the English programs they heard and comments on technical aspects and program content. We greatly appreciate this feedback.
A: Dear listeners, your reception reports were all complete enough for us to send you letters of confirmation. If your name wasn’t mentioned this week, don’t feel left out. We’ll try to acknowledge you next time.
B: That’s it for today’s Letter Box. If your names wasn’t mentioned, don’t feel bad. Maybe we’ll promise to acknowledge you next time. Please keep in touch with us. We look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions. Our contact address is:
The English program,
Overseas Service, Radio Voice of Vietnam,
45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
B: Or you can email us at: englishsection@vov.org.vn. And if you miss any of our programs, you can always catch up by logging onto our website at: www.vovworld.vn, where you can hear both live broadcasts and previously recorded programs.
A&B: Bye!!!!!!
Bao Tram